McCartney Times

Beware of Frances: She’s on a one-woman mission to force all the water in your body out through your tear ducts.Nominated for the Brits critics’ choice award and the BBC Sound of 2016, the singer has a knack for achingly beautiful ballads that tug at the heartstrings.Songs like Let It Out and Say It Again have earned her more than 50 million streams on Spotify – and top 10 singles around the world (although not at home, thanks to the current state of the UK singles chart).Born Sophie Frances Cooke in Berkshire, she was an aspiring violinist when her teacher sent her to see a film composer for career advice.On a whim, she played him a pop song she’d written for fun – and moved him to tears.”It was a bit awkward,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Are you ok?’ and he said, ‘Yeah. But you need to do that. You have to do that for the rest of your life.”She took his advice – choosing to attend the pop-focussed Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts instead of her original choice, the Birmingham Conservatoire.By the time she reached her third year of studies, she’d already been signed by a record label and moved to London.Her debut album, Things I’ve Never Said, comes out this week. A warm and wistful collection of perfectly-crafted piano pop, it has already won the singer comparisons to Adele and Carole King.Meanwhile, her single Grow has been selected to soundtrack a new campaign by Refuge, the charity supporting female victims of domestic violence.The 23-year-old sat down to tell the BBC about that video; the perks of fame; and what it’s like to get school lessons from Paul McCartney.

Source: Frances reveals Paul McCartney’s songwriting tips – BBC News